2011 Brawl Sports Awards: Event of the Year

The UFC’s first trip to San Jose – completely closed to the world’s biggest MMA promotion until they purchased Strikeforce – started out innocently enough. Shamar Bailey, who missed weight by three pounds the day before, was on the receiving end of a one-sided beating from Team Alpha Male member Danny Castillo. It was a fun fight, but hardly foreshadowed what was to come.

Seth Baczynski had a brilliant come-from-behind win over Matt Brown, submitting the veteran in the second round. Miguel Torres got back on the horse after a disputed loss to Demetrious Johnson last summer with a non-descript decision over Nick Pace. Gleison Tibau scored a decision win over Rafal dos Anjos in a bout that wasn’t all that memorable, truth be told.

It was Chris Weidman’s submission win over Tom Lawlor that really kicked things off, however. The highly-touted middleweight choked out Lawlor in the first round, leaving him completely unconscious and twitching in the center of the cage and proving that his formidable grappling skills are going to be a real threat at 185 pounds.

Michael McDonald, considered by many to be the next great bantamweight, knocked out Alex Soto in just 56 seconds to kick off the Spike TV card. Former Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader followed that by knocking out Jason Brilz, also in the first round. The televised action was off to good start.

The first two matches on the pay per view were nothing special. Stephan Bonnar finally decided to play it safe instead of trying for an exciting fight, and it earned him a one-sided decision over Kyle Kingsbury. Martin Kampmann followed that with a unanimous decision win over Rick Story.

Former featherweight champion Urijah Faber made the first real impact of the night with his submission win over former bantamweight champion Brian Bowles. Faber, considered a hometown fighter due to San Jose’s proximity to Sacramento, dropped Bowles with a nasty punch and then pounced, rolling with Bowles and finishing him with a mounted guillotine. The win earned Faber another shot at nemesis Dominick Cruz and the bantamweight title.

MMA legend Wanderlei Silva took to the cage to face hometown favorite and former Strikeforce stalwart Cung Le. San Jose is almost always a Cung Le town, but not on this night. The crowd was firmly behind Silva, who warded off retirement by returning to his old PRIDE form, if only briefly, and finishing Le by TKO in the second round of an exciting middleweight fight.

And then, the main event. What else can be said that hasn’t already been voiced a million times over? Dan Henderson, fresh off a Strikeforce destruction of Fedor Emelianenko, walked into the cage with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and put on an instant classic. Actually, the phrase “instant classic” probably isn’t enough to do this one justice. This was an instant contender for best fight of all time, and it was the best fight I’ve ever seen.

In a year filled with endless contenders for best overall event, UFC 139 shined just a little bit brighter than the rest.